Note
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.
If an employee leaves your organization, and you don't want to lose existing email or calendar information, you can either assign the former employee's email address to another employee, or convert the former employee's mailbox to a shared mailbox.
Note
You must have appropriate permissions through a role, such as Microsoft 365 Backup Administrator or User Administrator to perform the tasks in this article.
Convert former employee's mailbox to a shared mailbox
When you convert a user's mailbox to a shared mailbox, all of the existing email and calendar are retained in a shared mailbox that several people can acess. You can convert a shared mailbox back to an individual user's private mailbox later if needed.
- Creating a shared mailbox can be a less expensive way to go because you don't have to pay for a license as long as the mailbox is smaller than 50 GB. If it is over 50 GB, you need to assign a license to it.
- If you convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox, all the old email is available, too. This configuration can take up a lot of space.
- If you set up email forwarding, only new emails sent to the former employee's email address are sent to the current employee.
Follow these steps to convert the user's mailbox to a shared mailbox.
Forward a former employee's email to another employee
Important
If you're setting up email forwarding or a shared mailbox, don't delete the former employee's account. The account needs to be there to anchor the email forwarding or shared mailbox.
In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users > Active users. (Or, go directly to the Active users page.)
Select the name of the former employee, and then select the Mail tab.
Under Email Forwarding, select Manage email forwarding.
Select Forward all emails sent to this mailbox. In the Forwarding email address box, type the email address of the current employee who's going to get the email. Choose whether to keep a copy of the forwarded email in the former employee's mailbox.
Select Save changes. Remember not to delete the former employee's account.
Important
In scenarios where the mailbox is inactive due to compliance reasons, mail forwarding or converting the mailbox to a shared mailbox doesn't work.
Cancel Outlook meetings
Make sure to cancel all meetings that the former user had on their calendar. This lets people remove the meetings created by the former user.
If the person had meetings that booked equipment or rooms, they won't be available to be booked until those meetings are canceled. Read Delete an appointment or a meeting for the steps.